Pen attachment.



E. VARLEY.

PEN ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 19. 1915.

1 1 77,369. Patented Mar. 28, 1916.

IIII'I INVENTUR WITNESJES W W??? I,

A TTORNEYS rm: COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

EDMUND VARLEY, 0F.1IETERMAR1TZBURG, NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA.

PEN ATTACHMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent. I Patented Mar. 28, 1916.

Application filed June 19, 1915. Serial No. 34,995.

To all whom it may concern.

Be, it known that I, EDMUND VARLEY, a subject of Great Britain, and a resident of Pietermaritzburg, in the Colony of Natal, South Africa, have invented a new and Improved Pen Attachment, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to pen attachments, my more particular purpose being to provide a pen, such for instance as is usually employed for writing or drawing, with suitable means, whereby the ink carried by the pen point is prevented from reaching the surface of a ruler, a straight edge or the like employed for guiding the pen.

More particularly stated, I use a pen staff and a pen point, which, to all intents and purposes, may not differ materially from similar devices already in use, and upon the pen point staff, I mount a shield which is slidable in the general direction of the length of the staff and so located that the operator by means of his thumb, can shift the shield in the direction in whichit slides. I also provide a spring to be used for retracting the shield and parts associated with it and for returning the same to normal position as soon as the shield is released after each use of it.

Other objects of my invention are set forth below.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawings. forming part of this specification, in which like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pen equipped with my improved pen attachment, the latter in this instance occupying its normal position; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device, showing the shield as shifted into the position which it occupies while the pen is being used; Fig. 3 is a view partly in plan and partly broken away showing my attachment, which in full lines appears in its normal position and in dotted lines, appears while in active use; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross section on the line 4:1 of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow.

The pen staff is shown at 5 and has substantially a cylindrical form. It is provided with an extending portion 6, the latter being reduced at 7, as may be understood from Fig. 3. The pen point appears at 8 and is secured within the pen staff 5 in the usual or any desired manner. The pen staff is provided with a slot 9 extending in a direction parallel with its axis. A slide 10, having in this instance, the form of a solid cylinder is disposed within the pen staff and is movable in the general direction of the length there of. A pair of guide pins 11, extend through a shield 12, the latter being made preferably of thinsheet metal, and into the solid cylinder, the operator by placing his thumb upon the guide pins '11 and the adjacent portion of the shield 12, may move the shield 12 and also-the slide 10 in the general direction of the length of the pen stat. The slide 10 carries an'eye 13 and a similar eye 14 is carried by the reduced portion 7. A spring 15 extends from-the eye 13 to the eye 14 and normally tends to maintain the slide 10 at a point adjacent one end of the slot 9, as inclicated by full lines in Fig. 3. When, however, the slide 10 and parts carried by it occupy their extreme positions, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3, the shield 12 extends out nearly to the end of the pen point.

My invention is used as follows: The operator grasps thepen staff and places his finger upon the shield 12 and also upon the guide pins 11. This is done while these parts occupy their normal positions, as indicated in Fig. 1. The operator, next dips the pen point 8 into the ink and by moving his thumb, forces the shield 12 outwardly, so that one end of the shield reaches out nearly to the end of the pen point 8, as shown in Fig. 2. The operator next uses the pen for ruling with any kind of ruler. or with any type of straight edge, the shield 12 being drawn along in engagement with the latter. No ink from the pen can possibly reach the adjacent edge of the ruler and hence can not be transferred to the book or paper from the ruler or its equivalent. That is to say, the shield is always interposed between the pen point and the ruler while the device is in use. As soon as the operator relaxes his grip upon the shield, the latter is by tension of the spring 15 drawn back into its normal position. My reason for causing the shield to slide relatively to the pen staff, is to prevent ink from getting upon the shield when the pen point is dipped into the ink bottle. The presence of the shield, does not in any way interfere with the use of the pen in writing in the ordinary way. In some instances the spring may be omitted. When thus omitted the device is worked as above described, with the exception that the shield is not retracted automatically when the operator releases his grip upon it. He must move the slide back into its normal position, by aid of his thumb.

\Vhile in this instance, I have shown the shield 12 as outside of the cylindrical member constituting the body of the pen staff, I do not limit myself to this exact position for the slide. Neither do I limit "myself .to the precise construction for the pen staff and parts carried thereby. 1

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. A device of the character described, comprising a pen stafi' adapted to hold a pen point, a cylindrical slide carried within said pen stall and movable by hand relatively thereto, and a shield carried by said slide and movable into close proximity to the position of said pen point.

2. Apen attachment, comprising a pen stafi having a-substantially cylindrical body portion, a slide located within said body portion, a shield carried by said slide, and a spring connected with said slide and secured to said pen staff;

3. A device of the character described,

comprisinga pen staff provided with a body portion having the form of a hollow cylinder .and provided with a slot extending longitudinally of said cylinder, a slide located within said cylinden'guide pins carried by said slide and extending through said slot, and a shield secured to said guide pins and Copiesoi this patent may be obtained for a slot extending lengthwise thereofla slide located within said hollow pen staff, a

spring connected withv said slide and also with said pen stafi:,*said spring being located within the latter,a pair of guide pins.

carried by said slide and extending through said slot, and a shield mounted upon. said guide pins and movable relatively to said pen stafl, said shield b'eingso positioned :as

to extend beyond the adjacent end of said pen staff when said slide is moved into-one I of its extreme positions.

5. A device of the chara ter described,

comprising a hollow cylindrical pen'staff, a pen point carried thereby, a shield, and a:

slide in the form of a solid eylinderaconnected with said shield and movably mounted within said pen staff, said shield being so located that when moved into one of its extreme positions, it extends into close proximity to said pen point; p

In witness whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDMUND VARLEY.

Witnesses HUGH S. Hoon, ELBERT Hoon.

Washington, D. 0. 

